- atmospheric fantasy

DNF - slow paced, found it hard to get into the story. Though the cover and the description was what drove me in and got me curious to read this story, It was slow and not fleshed out. I might give it another try at a later date but at this stage it's not for me.

This was a good and atmospheric fantasy book. I'm hoping that there is another book to come to see what happens with Ivy and Tom. I enjoyed this.
I just reviewed Waking the Witch by Rachel Burge. #WakingtheWitch #NetGalley
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It has interesting premise and I enjoyed it! Would love a little more world building in the next book, maybe more Merlin related legend/tales to support the main storyline. But it was a good first book of a series!

This was a very enjoyable quick read. Rachel Burge does a great job of filling the story with content that is necessary and meaningful. There are no wasted words.

Our main character is living her life as an employee at a butterfly wonderland after having grown up in foster care her entire life. She works with a man named Tom who is constantly pranking her and getting her in trouble. When weird things start happening. She started seeing shadows and would then see that the person or creature they were closest to would become possessed and try to kill her. When her long-lost mom calls her and warns her not to come visit her, she immediately decides she must do so following her encounters with the shadows.
After she is fired for defending herself against one of the possessed people, Tom starts to befriend her. Not even a day into their friendship she asks him to take her to see her mom. He is kind and agrees.
After a sickening boat ride, they make it to the island where her mother lives. The boat master warns them that he will not be back until the next day and if they do not come back with him on his last trip in a week, they will not be able to get off the island until spring as winter is coming.
They make it to her mom's cabin at the bottom of the lighthouse and she hurries them inside. Tom thinks her mom is crazy because she keeps talking about things like the shadows.
There are a lot of things that ensue following that but I don't want to ruin the story right at the point it takes off and action begins!
Just trust me, you'll love it and the ending is not a cliffhanger but gives a sense of peace!

Content warning: body possession, assault, child abandonment

I like this different take on a King Arthur retelling that isn't focused directly on Arthur or his knights... and honestly, Merlin being corrupted by dark powers tracks so that wasn't all that surprising. Unfortunately I think there is something missing and that all of the pieces of the plot don't quite fit together. At times the plot drags and other parts are so rushed it feels like crucial details are missing. I liked it, but it wasn't exactly what I was hoping it would be. Reader beware - the ending is very abrupt and doesn't provide full closure.

I am slightly confused that this is being marketed as YA... sure the protagonist is a teen, but this reads way more like Adult Fantasy, than YA. I don't see many of my teen patrons picking this one up but I can think of at least a handful of adult patrons that would read it.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley and Hot Key Books in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the cover, but the insides didn't grab me, nor do I feel like they matched the tone conveyed by the cover. Ivy doesn't really stand out for me among other YA novels I've read recently. She's got a tragic backstory with holes in it (where is she living, for one? Who's her legal guardian? These seem like factors that would be important to a teenager!) and lots of snark. Her sarcastic comments are more mean than endearing, which happens wayyy too often in YA! I could imagine a teen reading and enjoying this book, but we're unlikely to buy it for our collection: we already have a lot of books on the shelf that are basically just like this.

I thought this one started slow but by the end I was really enjoying it. I loved the growing relationship between Ivy and Tom, it is very sweet. The best part is Ivy finally finding herself and a family to fight for. There is lots of magic, a sinister Merlin, and a dark setting. All of this made for a fun read.

When Ivy's search for her mother draws her to a remote Welsh isle, she uncovers a dark secret about her past.

This was fine. Nothing groundbreaking, but perfectly fine.